


Two Roads Diverged

by violetvaria



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Irony, Non-Graphic Torture, Non-Graphic Violence, POV Alternating, Team as Family, Triple Drabble, implied abandonment issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 14:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20949686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetvaria/pseuds/violetvaria
Summary: Jack found them. They had been kidnapped and tortured, but they would be okay. He'd gotten there.So which one will he go to first--Mac or Riley?Two "what-if" triple drabbles based onJack + Roadby CatWingsAthena.





	Two Roads Diverged

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Jack + Road](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20909300) by [CatWingsAthena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatWingsAthena/pseuds/CatWingsAthena). 

> Thanks to CatWingsAthena for inspiring this idea with the remarkable [**Jack + Road**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20909300). Reading that first is HIGHLY recommended.
> 
> We were discussing...if Mac and Riley were equally hurt, at equal distances from the entrance, and in equal amounts of danger (possibly no immediate danger), which one would Jack free first? These little thought experiments probe at both possibilities.
> 
> Title is from [**The Road Not Taken**](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken) by Robert Frost.
> 
> WARNINGS: non-graphic mentions of numerous injuries, implied past torture

It made sense for Jack to go to Mac first.

It did.

It didn’t have anything to do with feelings, Riley was sure. Jack might be the most forcefully emotive operative she’d ever met, but a decision like this would have been pure logic.

Mac was more useful at the moment. Ergo, he would be untied first.

The only sensible choice.

Sure, with his obviously shattered knee, he wouldn’t be going anywhere quickly, but his hands were still deft and certain, and his eyes weren’t being forced shut by blood, so he would be useful in getting them out of there.

Of course, Riley could override the electronic door locks, since it was clear neither she nor Mac would be getting out through the window Jack had burst through. But with her pounding head—almost definitely a concussion—maybe she wouldn’t be able to do so after all. At least not fast.

So Mac was the best choice.

And maybe Mac did wobble dangerously even when leaning on Jack, and Riley remembered how many hits he’d taken to the head. His concussion might be worse than hers, and she suddenly doubted his ability to do _anything_, much less something requiring precision and rapid thought.

But that was another reason Jack should have gone to Mac first. He was clearly in bad shape. He needed to be untied first, to start getting some feeling back in his limbs.

Riley couldn’t feel her hands or feet at all. So it was fine if she had to wait an extra few minutes.

It was fine. Better than fine. It was exactly what she’d told Jack to do.

And for once he hadn’t been a chivalrous idiot and had done the reasonable thing. He’d listened to her. She was glad.

Of course she was.

~~~

Mac was glad Jack untied Riley first.

He was.

She looked pretty bad. The cut over her eye was still sluggishly bleeding. At least the blood had coagulated on the patches on her scalp where they had ripped out chunks of her curly hair.

So of course Jack would go to her first. Mac had told him to, after all.

Riley needed help more.

It wasn’t as if Mac was going anywhere. He wouldn’t be walking out of there, that was for sure. He’d be lucky to hop on his “good” leg—the one with the twisted ankle instead of the shattered knee.

So yes, Jack should definitely have chosen to untie Riley first.

Mac could make a case that he was a good six inches closer to the window where Jack entered. And that he had already figured out how to short out the alarm system on the door.

But Riley needed to be freed. She wasn’t in good shape, not after she’d defied all attempts at making her talk with an arrogant sarcasm that would’ve made Jack proud.

Mac was proud of her too. Even if it was a little hard to hear everything she said after he’d been clocked in the head a few too many times.

And considering how much his head was ringing, now that he thought about it, maybe it was better for Riley to work on the alarm system. She could probably bypass it in her sleep, never mind with a concussion, and if she was hunched over as she rose, thanks to the multiple kicks she’d taken to the ribs, she was at least sort of standing.

So yes. Mac was glad he’d shouted at Jack to get to Riley first. Glad Jack had listened for once in his life.

Glad. Absolutely.

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone want to link on to this drabble chain? CatWingsAthena had some fantastic ideas in the comments of [**Jack + Road**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20909300) that could be expanded upon.


End file.
